Perkins Student Loan Program Gets Shanked

Politico is reporting “A bipartisan attempt to extend the federal Perkins Loan ahead of a Saturday deadline appears to be dead in both chambers of Congress, at least for now. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee on Thursday blocked legislation in the Senate that would have kept the decades-old loan program alive for two more years. In the House, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on the floor that there were no plans to vote on a companion bill. Alexander, the Republican chairman of the Senate education committee, objected to an effort by Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) to pass the bill, S. 1808 (115), by unanimous consent. “We need a much simpler program for federal student loans and the end of the Perkins Loan program is a small step toward that end,” Alexander said.”

The Perkins federal student loan program is, or should I say was, for undergraduate and graduate students with tremendous financial needs. Think low income students who need access to special educational loan programs to help lift them out of their situation and give them access to educational opportunities.